New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

I would LOVE it if a refund would be given so I could order a new working Air after Apple sorts all of this out. The problem is I purchased it through an Apple Authorized dealership and they won't refund me a special ordered dead MBA because Apple refuses to refund them! So I'm stuck dealing with an Apple tech on the phone who determines that yes indeed the special configured MBA was DOA and has me send it back for the second time to reconfigure a new MBA to ship out to me.......and it will probably be DOA as well so I will get to go through this yet again. Starting to feel like the movie "Groundhog Day"! I could let the Apple people fight it out with the Authorized dealer, but then I run the risk of the time running out and being saddled with a bad Apple, pun intended! What a mess!

Well, of course they should be given a fair chance to correct a faulty unit, in Sweden we have to accept up to two or three returns before we can demand our money back.It is indeed a mess and I sympathise with you and everyone else stuck up Apple creek without a paddle. But, in the end I'm confident Apple will fix this, the MBA is a big seller and this wifi problem is of course hurting them. Until then, if you cant demand your money back, keep returning any faulty unit, I actually believe this is more costly for Apple then just refunding you your money. A hassle for you, but eventually I hope you get a working machine. In the meantime I postpone my investment, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I got iesterday my MBA 13" 8 GB ram 256 hd in a shop named MAC-In in Genoa (Italy). It arrived from China.

I tried 3 different routers without issues. Now is running with my TP-link 150 wireless n without ac protocol.

With more than 70,000 thread views I think Apple is aware of the issue. I dont think they purposely want negative impact on back to school sales. The customers beta testing the first fix attempt are not allowed to post. One insider i trust tells me there is a team of engineees working this 24/7, WiFi will be resolved by end of July. But, as I've suggested before, I'm not sure it's possible to make new a/c WiFi compatible with 100% of the millions of legacy a,b,g, and n class routers in the wild. Probably the vast majority, but 100% of all legacy routers may be unrealistic. Apple didn't invent the a/c protocol, but they're the first to deploy large scale. It's frustrating I'm sure, but this is why I never buy the first run of a refreshed or significant upgraded product. I'm patiently waiting to upgrade a 5 year old MacBook with just 2 GB ram.

Do you think it will be worth waiting until January? Will APple introduce a new fixed macbook air with under-the-hood changes (not affecting performance but just fixing issues like this) or must one wait until September 2014? (next-next september..)

I took my unit to the Geniur Bar tonight to have the issue recorded. The tech made a phone call to an Apple Engineer responsible for the issue and we spoke for a few minutes. It sounded as if they are working on it and testing a fix right now.

They did offer to exchange it for another unit, but it was their belief that all units are affected.

Mikael_B wrote:

in Sweden we have to accept up to two or three returns before we can demand our money back.

Actually, that's just a lie the stores keep telling consumers — there's no such law. I forget where, but there was a great article a while back dismantling a bunch of these lies that stores tell consumers. Another fun one was regarding the "Bicycles are removed without responsibility" sign that's often found on store fronts. Totally incorrect. According to law, they not only have to move the bicycle to a secure location under their responsibility, they also have to inform the police about it, giving them details about the bicycle, such as frame serial number and whatnot 🙂

Same here, running a WiFi diagnostics makes my signal more stable. Data flow seems to be continous. I can even put the MacBook Air to Power Nap without issues.

I am unable to surf the web though when running a Time Machine Backup from my 2TB Seagate GoFlex NAS (which takes about < a minutes) but works fine with a 2TB Time Capsule (which is full).

did u find any permanent solution...this isn't working anymore.

I have an 11 inch Macbook Air. It is not the new model, I bought it about 2 years ago, 2011 I think.

At first it appeared alright but then I started having the same problem, the Wifi would connect but would soon drop out. The only way to get it going again was to turn Airport off, reboot the computer then turn Airport back on again.

It only seemed to happen when I was running Safari. Other people were reporting wifi connection problems at the time.

The problem appeared to start when I loaded Chrome onto the computer so I removed Chrome, the problem continued.

I loaded Little Snitch to watch my connection traffic and noticed that whenever I switched on the computer the very first thing it did was to try to connect to Google.

I removed all Google associated programs from my computer and went through to remove any hidden Google files, cookies, etc. I managed to stop the computer trying to connect to Google.

I loaded Firefox and use it instead of Safari.

I have not had a Wifi problem since.

Yesterday I got my new MBA. First I was very happy, but then I was facing the same wifi issues. Plus everytime i lost my wifi connection on the MBA, my iPhone and my iPad also lose it! Im starting getting realy mad, cause I spend a lot of my money in this product and now it isn't working. The funny thing is, if I use my iPhone as an acess point, everything works fine. But that could not be the way. I know Apple is working on the issue, but its still a shame...

greetings from germany

Russets said---

I loaded Firefox and use it instead of Safari.

I have not had a Wifi problem since.

Now THAT needs some investigation, Apple has boasted about Safari being very lean on power and Firefox being a power hog........there could be some wifi dirrectives in Firefox that are NOT in Safari!!

Those having issues, ........can you confirm this by doing a switch to Firefox and see if you see a resolution like this!

Interesting observation from @SomeBodyFrench - Works no issue on bootcamp windows but issues on OS X. So a patch/update is in order.

no. Firefox & Chrome are just faster browsers - so they are able to get info and load before the wifi cuts out.

Hi Guys, I just copy my post from the other parts of the forum, where is the same discussion, because I think, it is the same problem. The MBA not able to working the 2.4 Ghrtz wifi, they just working fine 5Ghrtz wifi, so maybe you Guys have to try an airport express or an new router which is working on 5 GHrtz.

"Hi Guys!

I just little bit speak english, I hope, you will understand me. I have bought a MBA 2012 MID the last black friday. My issues was absolutly same like Peverbian wife's MBA. All the other OLD thing (PCs, phones etc are working fine in the house, but the new really expensive laptop can not working of course....) I took my MBA back to the Apple Store, they exchanged two parts in this ..... and the problem is stayed with me. (it worked fine in the store, but at my house it does not working ) I was so mad and sad beacuse I dont have a thime for this ( go back again, etc), so I bought the airport express $99 and now it is working. I dont think so it is fair from the apple, because they has to know about the issue, all the forums are full with that and WOW!!!... the newest MBA has the same issue! (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5100655?start=0&tstart=0)

So, now it is working in my house, but If I go somewhere, I have to pray, because it is not working everywhere.... and I dont want to bring my airport express with myself everywhere, it is nonsense!!!!

I was thinking, I change my MBA for the new MBP. I checked the recycling program. I have bought that half year ago $1700, and now in the the recycling program, the can send me $831 gift card about that Macbook..... Khmm....

So I think, the only solution YET!!! is maybe a new router (which is able to work on 5Ghrz), or an Airport Extreme... :(((((

I hope i could help for Somebody!"